The caveats will soon come to an end, and the asterisks will be gone. Beginning shortly after Christmas, St. John’s won’t have to apologize for its victories anymore.
Starting Saturday, the real season — the Big East season — begins. After two months of holding serve, pounding inferior opponents, the Red Storm will get the chance to prove they’re for real and not the product of a Charmin-soft non-conference schedule. And coach Chris Mullin’s team will head into the league season — commencing next Saturday against surprising Seton Hall in Newark — riding plenty of momentum and off to its best start in 36 years following Saturday night’s 104-82 evisceration of Sacred Heart at a sold-out Carnesecca Arena.
“The next step is Big East play, and that’s when it really matters, and that’s what we’re looking most forward to,” senior forward Marvin Clark II said after St. John’s scored its most points in a game and notched its most assists (28) in five years, dating to Dec. 7, 2013, against Fordham, and set a school record with 17 made 3-pointers.
“Dec. 29, we play,” Mullin added, “so we’ll be ready.”
St. John’s 12th victory was never in doubt. Playing with the same sense of purpose and end-to-end focus it displayed in a 34-point win over St. Francis (Brooklyn) on Wednesday, it built a 23-5 lead just 4:35 into the contest. After that lead was cut to eight early in the second half, the result of some defensive slippage and settling for too many jumpshots, the Johnnies responded with an 18-0 run while running the Pioneers (4-8) off the court and wowing the large crowd with their long-range accuracy and grace in transition.
“Our overall game is in good shape,” Mullin said.
Clark was the story of the first half, scoring all 23 of his points and sinking six 3-pointers. Shamorie Ponds scored 11 of his 13 after the break and also notched nine assists and five rebounds. Mustapha Heron snapped out of a shooting slump to score 23 points and hit a career-high five 3-pointers while LJ Figueroa added 15 points. Ponds produced the evening highlight, a no-look, between-the-legs pass to Figueroa for a layup with his back to the court to push the lead to 28 with 10:43 remaining.
“I saw him running from the corner of my eye and I just wanted to get it to him quick,” Ponds said. “That was my best way of getting it to him.”
One of five remaining unbeaten teams, St. John’s is the lone one unranked. The Red Storm (12-0) have said the right things; that the lack of recognition doesn’t matter, their focus is elsewhere, and they will do their talking on the court with their play. Eventually, they’ll get the recognition they feel they deserve.
Soon, that opportunity will arise. In a week, the real season begins. Everyone will start to find out about this team then.
“We’re 12-0, but at the end of the day, we really haven’t done anything yet in our eyes,” Clark said. “When it comes to Big East play, the past few years we haven’t played well. So we definitely have something to prove.
“We have that chip on our shoulder and we’ll definitely be ready for Big East play.”